Felicity Wilson MP marks first year in office
NORTH Shore MP Felicity Wilson is approaching her first year in office and reveals she didn’t expect the rough and tumble of politics to be so aggressive.
Mosman
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IT has been a year of ups and downs for North Shore state MP Felicity Wilson.
This weekend marks 12 months since her election and over that time she has achieved wins for the community.
But alongside the positive side of the job she faced intense personal scrutiny.
Looking back she didn’t expect the rough and tumble of politics to be quite so “rough and tumbly”.
“I thought there would be politics in the parliament but I didn’t expect it to be so aggressive and so rough,” Ms Wilson said.
“But I’ve dealt with tougher things in my life and that’s not going to defeat me.”
Ms Wilson mistakenly claimed to have lived in the North Shore electorate for 10 years and also tripped up when she said in a Facebook post that her first vote in 2001 was for John Howard.
The issues gathered widespread media coverage and she has found that the experience built her resilience and strength.
“It could come back again,” she said.
“I make mistakes, people make mistakes and I’ll probably make mistakes in the future.
“The higher you go in any career the more scrutiny you are under.
“It’s a competition to get here and you’ve got to be held to account once you are here. It shouldn’t be an easy job.”
Ms Wilson’s achievements include ensuring that the spoil from the Metro tunnelling will be barged out and returning a bus stop to Cremorne. However, turning one man’s life around means the most to her.
In the first months of the job she met Brendan who was living in a boarding house in Neutral Bay.
He had been on a waiting list for a home for years and couldn’t get anything.
“We ended up getting him a place in Brookvale,” Ms Wilson said.
“He came in to say thank you and wanted to give me a hug.”
Next year voters will go to the polls again for the state government elections and Ms Wilson is hopeful she will be returned by voters.
North Shore is considered a safe seat but she isn’t taking anything for granted.
“It’s important to me that people know I think it’s a great job to have,” she said.
“I’m going to work hard to try and keep it.”